The family Robinson Crusoe

by Johann David Wyss

Next to the winding stairs, my chief occupation was the management of the young buffalo, whose wound in the nose was quite healed, so that I could lead it at will with a cord or stick passed through the orifice, as the Caffrarians do. I preferred the latter, which answered the purpose of a bit; and I resolved to break-in this spirited beast for riding as well as drawing. It was already used to the shafts, and very tractable in them; but I had more trouble in inuring him to the rider, and to wear a girth, having made one out of the old buffalo’s hide. I formed a sort of saddle with sail-cloth, and tacked it to the girth. Upon this I fixed a burthen, which I increased progressively. I was indefatigable in the training of the animal, and soon brought it to carry, without fear or repugnance, large bags full of potatoes, salt, and other articles, such as the ass had patiently borne to be loaded with. The monkey was his first rider, who stuck so close to the saddle, that in spite of the plunging and kicking of the buffalo, it was not thrown. Francis was then tried, as the lightest of the family; but throughout his excursion I led the beast with a halter, that it might not throw the child off. Jack now showed some impatience to mount the animal in his turn. Some restraint was requisite:—I passed the appropriate piece of wood through the buffalo’s nose, and tied strong packthread at each end of the stick, bringing them together over the neck of the animal; and I then put this new-fashioned bridle into the hands of the young rider, directing him how to use it. For a time the lad kept his saddle, notwithstanding the repeated jumps of the horned steed; at length a side jolt threw him on the sand, without his receiving much injury. Ernest, Fritz, and lastly myself, got on successively, with more or less effect. His trotting shook us to the very centre, the rapidity of his gallop turned us giddy, and our lessons in horsemanship were reiterated many days before the animal was tamed, and could be rode with either safety or pleasure. At last, however, we succeeded without any serious accident; and the strength and swiftness of our saddled buffalo were prodigious. It seemed to sport with the heaviest loads. My three eldest boys mounted it together now and then, and it ran with them with the swiftness of lightning. By continued attentions it at length became extremely docile: it was not in the least apt to start; and I really felt satisfaction in being thus enabled to make my sons expert riders, so that if they should ever have horses, they might get on the most restive and fiery without any fear:—none could be compared to our young buffalo; and the ass which I had intended to employ in the same way was far surpassed by this new member of our family. Fritz and Jack, with my instructions, amused themselves in training the animal as horses are exercised in a riding-house; and by means of the little stick through the nose, they were able to do what they pleased with him.

In the midst of all this Fritz did not neglect his eagle; he daily shot some small birds which he gave it to eat, placing them sometimes betwixt the buffalo’s horns, sometimes on the back of one of the hens, or of a flamingo, or on a shelf, or at the end of a stick, in order to teach it to pounce like a falcon upon other birds. He taught it to perch on his wrist whenever he called or whistled to it; but some time elapsed before he could trust it to soar without securing its return by a long string, apprehending its bold and wild nature would prompt it to take a distant and farewell flight from us.

Our whole company, including even the inert Ernest, was infected with the passion of becoming instructors. Ernest tried his talents in this way with his monkey; who, it must be confessed, seldom failed to furnish him with work. It was no poor specimen of the ludicrous to see the lad; he whose movements were habitually slow and studied, now constrained to skip, and jump, and play a thousand antics with his pupil during training hours, and all the time deeply interested in carrying forward the lesson the grotesque mimic was condemned to learn, of carrying small loads, climbing the cocoa-trees, and to fetch and bring the nuts. He and Jack made a little hamper of rushes, very light: they put three straps to it, two of which passed under the fore, and one between the hind legs of the animal, and were then fastened to a belt in front, to keep the hamper steady on the back of the mischievous urchin. This apparatus was at first intolerable to poor Knips: he gnashed his teeth, rolled on the ground, jumping like a mad creature, and did every thing to get rid of it; but all in vain, for education was the standing order, and he soon found he must submit. The hamper was left on day and night; its sole food was what was thrown into it; and in a short time pug was so much accustomed to the burden, that he began to spit and growl whenever we attempted to take it off, and every thing given to the creature to hold was instantly thrown into it. Knips became at length a useful member of our society; but he would only obey Ernest, whom he at once loved and feared, thus affording a proof of at least one of the great ends of all instruction. Jack was less successful with his little jackal, which he had named Hunter, hoping that its qualities would justify the name. He made continual attempts to induce the animal to go after game; but for the first six months he advanced no further in the lesson than teaching him to bring what was thrown to it: and when it was dead game, Hunter was sure to devour it on the way, and to bring home the skin alone: but it was nevertheless so pretty and tractable a creature, that I intreated the boy not to relinquish a task that would prove so beneficial to us; and he persevered with considerable zeal.

These different occupations filled up several hours of the day; when, after working at our stairs, we assembled in the evening round our never-failing constant friend, the good mother, to rest ourselves: and forming a little circle, every individual of which was affectionate and cheerful, it was her turn to give us some agreeable and less fatiguing occupation in the domestic concerns of Falcon Stream: such, for example, as endeavouring to improve our candle-manufactory, by blending the berry and the bees-wax, and employing the reed-moulds invented by Jack: but having found some difficulty in taking out the candles when cold, I adopted the plan of dividing the moulds, cleaning the inside, and rubbing it over with a little butter, to prevent the wax from adhering to it; then to rejoin both halves with a band that could be loosened at pleasure, to facilitate the extraction of the tapers. The wicks gave us most trouble, as we had no cotton. We tried with moderate success the fibrous threads of the karatta, and those of the algava or flame-wood; but each had the inconvenience of becoming a sort of coal or cinder. The production which gave us the most satisfaction was the pith of a species of elder; but it did not, however, lessen our desire to discover the only appropriate ingredient, the cotton-tree. I likewise contrived a method of rendering our candles even and shining, by rolling them between two boards; they now were only distinguishable from those of Europe by a greenish hue. On my observing to my sons that wax was bleached like linen, by spreading it on cloths, and exposing it to the dew and sun, they wished to try the process; but as our green tapers burned remarkably well, bleaching the wax would have been a useless luxury and loss of time, which I could turn to more account in manufacturing our impenetrable boots without seams, of the caoutchouc or elastic gum.

I began with a pair for myself; and I encouraged my children to afford a specimen of their industry, by trying to form some flasks and cups that could not break. They commenced by making some clay moulds, which they covered with layers of gum, agreeably to the instructions I had given them.

In the meanwhile I compactly filled a pair of stockings with sand, and covered them with a layer of clay, which I first dried in the shade, and afterwards in the sun. I then took a sole of buffalo-leather, well beaten, and studded round with tacks, which served me to fix it under the foot of the stocking; and after this I poured the liquid gum into all the interstices, which on drying produced a close adhesion between the leather and stocking sole. I next proceeded to smear the whole with a coat of resin of a tolerable thickness; and as soon as this layer was dried on, I put on another, and so on till I had spread on a sufficiency with my brush. After which I emptied the sand, drew out the stocking, removed the hardened clay, shook off the dust, and thus obtained a pair of seamless boots, as finished as if made by the best English workman; being pliant, warm, soft, smooth, and completely water-proof.

I hung them up directly, that they might dry without shrinking. They fitted uncommonly well; and my four lads were so highly pleased with their appearance, that they skipped about with joy in requesting me to make each of them a pair. I refrained from any promise, because I wished to ascertain their strength previously, and to compare them with boots made out of mere buffalo-leather. Of these I at once began a pair for Fritz, with a piece of the slaughtered buffalo’s skin. They gave far more trouble than those manufactured with the caoutchouc, which I used to cover the seams and render them less pervious to water. The work turned out very imperfect, and so inferior to my incomparable boots, that Fritz wore them reluctantly; and the more so, as his brothers shouted with laughter at the difficulty he had to run in them. My boys had succeeded tolerably well with their new ware, though still imperfect; but as a first essay performed by tyro artists, I was satisfied with their productions.

We had also been engaged in the construction of our fountain, which afforded a perpetual source of pleasure to my wife, and indeed to all of us. In the upper part of the stream we built with stakes and stones a kind of dam, that raised the water sufficiently to convey it into the palm-tree troughs; and afterwards, by means of a gentle slope, to glide on contiguous to our habitation, where it fell into the tortoise-shell bason, which we had elevated on stones to a certain height for our convenience; and it was so contrived that the redundant water passed off through a cane pipe fitted to it. I placed two sticks athwart each other for the gourds, that served as pails, to rest on; and we thus produced, close to our abode, an agreeable fountain, delighting with its rill, and supplying us with a pure crystal fluid, and such as we frequently could not get when we drew our water from the bed of the river, which was often blended with the leaves and earth fallen into it, or rendered turbid by our water-fowls. The only inconvenience was, that the water flowing in this open state through narrow channels in a slender stream, was heated, and not refreshing when it reached us. I resolved to obviate this inconvenience at my future leisure, by employing, instead of the uncovered conduits, large bamboo-canes fixed deep enough in the ground to keep the water cool. In waiting the execution of this design, we felt pleasure in the new acquisition; and Fritz, who had suggested the notion, received his tribute of praise from all.

CHAPTER XXX.
The wild ass;—difficulty in breaking it;—the heath-fowl’s nest.

We were scarcely up one morning, and had got to work in putting the last hand to our winding stair-case, when we heard at a distance two strange peculiar kind of voices, that resembled the howlings of wild beasts, mixed with hissings and sounds of some creature at its last gasp, which I was at a loss to explain, and I was not without uneasiness; our dogs too pricked up their ears, and seemed to whet their teeth for a sanguinary combat with a dangerous enemy.